Understanding Modi’s Hindutva

Norendro Modi hos c;ompleted more thon three yeors In officeas the Prime M;,1ister cf India. He had emerged asa strong but controverslo/ leor from rjght wing Bhorotyo Jonoto Porty (BJP) ofter th gruesome Gujorot riots of 2002, In which 1500Muslims were massacred. Though, the idioms of monogement, econcmic excellence, notional security and civilizutional glory swayed the Indian p(lblic opinion in his favor durirg 2014 elections, yet the communof c.rescendo is con:lnuing from his close aides. They speak of Muslims and terrodsm in the same breath. The other communities ore olso not secure In the emerglng desecufarised soda-political manifestotions of India, since the l'ecent po.s't. Modi'$ ow,, lntel'pl'etodon of Hlr'!dutvo resonote.s with political compulsions and its inherent Jlmltotion.s roword.s rellgJous minotlties, port/cu/arty Muslims, as a!Jo sections of backward classes and Oalits. More than 200 temples and other religious institutions hove been vandalized Fn Oelh along with the churches and o Catholic school. Modi is coA.Sidered as o lightning rod on fa ithand tolerance. Ind/a hos sofor foiled to come (Ipwith any dear guarantee togive way ro the primary identity of Indian nort-Hindu cjli1en.s d.spite Modi committing that hi.s government "will not allow ony religious group, belonging to the majority or the minority, to incite hatred against others, overtly or covertly."1 In the obsence of concrete measures, the challenge of intolerance towards divers;ty is providing more of o conceptvol fromework to the radical enchusiosrs in rhe region.Ir rfkindles debore on ideofogical Issues ond national Identities on foreign policy fronts as wef/ since secularism is strictly confined topolitics in Indio. As o re.suit Pokjstan's threor perceptions ore also shifted evenfvrther afield,given its Muslim stoture.